Bridesmaid Gifts: Chinese take-out box full of goodies!

For my future sister in laws, Carmela and Sabina.

When I was a bridesmaid of my cousin Ara's wedding in 2007 (I was 17 at the time), there was no cute creative way of her asking me. There was no Pinterest. Plus, how could she? She lives all the way in Vancouver, Canada whereas I'm in good ol' Sacramento. So how I knew that I was going to be a bridesmaid was through my dad (he and his sister/Ara's mother, my Tita Gigi would always keep in touch in the phone).

Fast forward 2012. I also became a bridesmaid for my cousin Guia's (Ara's sister) wedding, and Pinterest was emerging, but she just messaged me on Facebook asking me. Now that I am getting married in 2017, there is a plethora of "wedspiration" on Pinterest. Sure, they have always had it in websites such as The Knot or bridal magazines, but now you can just search what you're looking for, and its as easy as pressing the "pin" button and refer back to your board. Though I still have fun with the old-fashion cutting and pasting pics, or making my own wedding mood board through Adobe InDesign (I created another one, I had an old one here but I changed my mind about the colors, and Cecilio and I are putting down the deposit and securing the date next week).

One thing I have seen in recent years that I haven't seen before (hey...I've been dreaming of a wedding and marriage since I was younger, so sue me) are bridesmaids gifts. Proposing to your bridesmaids. Some ideas include a balloon with a note that says "He popped the question...now I will pop one for you...be my bridesmaid?" Some have a ring pop. Some have notes that say "Will you calm me down during my bridezilla moments? Will you help me pee?"

Then there are those that put notes and little goodies in a flip-top box. I was going to do that, but I did it with a twist: using a Chinese takeout box. I incorporated the wedding colors, marsala (aka burgundy, just fun to say marsala because it's the 2015 Color of the Year) and pink with gold and cream accents.

Here's what I bought at Michael's for the materials:

1. A pack of Chinese Takeout boxes
2. Gold ribbon
3. Burgundy cardstock paper
4. Labels
5. Paper Crinkle

And for the goodies, I bought them:

1. Nail Polish (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in the Shade "Mauve Over", but for my sister Trixie, the maid of honor, I gave her an extra polish with the shade "Red Carpet")
2. Starburst Reds (strawberry, fruit punch, cherry, watermelon flavors—I put each flavor in the boxes
3. Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Truffle

Here's how I did it:

1. I cut the gold ribbon and wrapped it around the box, and either glued it or double taped it.
2. I took out the labels and using an X-acto knife, I cut the burgundy cardstock paper a little bit bigger than the labels. I put the labels on top of the paper since they were adhesive.
3. I wrote the names on the label.
4. I double taped the label on the box on top of the ribbon.
5. I added the paper crinkle and the goodies!
6. The labels came with a glossy gold paper, so I wrote in pen asking them to be my maid of honor or bridesmaid.

Excuse my smudged handwriting, I'm a lefty :)

I am so excited to have these women as a part of my day! My bridal party consists of Trixie (my sister, the Maid of Honor), Jamie and Rebecca (2 of my closest friends), and Carmela and Sabina (Cecilio's sisters). The planning process will be fun, crazy, and chaotic but I will at least have them by my side as I walk down the aisle to my love, and best friend :)